The ancient peoples of the earth understood and thing or two about life. They understood that they were a part of a greater whole. Recently in Britain we have had nothing but rain. Of course Britain is known for its rain. It has always been a standing joke both inside and outside of Britain. “The Rain”.

The message has always been if you are come to Britain bring your umbrella with you. In fact I stayed in a hotel once in Wales that gave complementary umbrellas to the guests as a way of enticing them into the hotel on weekend packages. Well that free umbrella has long gone but it was useful along the way.

Misery
The misery that floods incur is not to be underestimated. I live about 12ft or so from the edge of a river. I could not be much nearer. When my river rose during the recent rain we stepped outside one morning to find water over spilling onto the bank and heading in our direction. My neighbours and I were not happy. Luckily for us all it did not do more than that. All of the housed were safe. However, not so for so many people in Britain as devastation has travelled across the United Kingdom and the West Country has been very badly affected indeed.
Some people in Britain have been hit by flooding year after year in recent times. I watched people on the news give their thoughts and feelings to the interviewers about their plight with the rain, floods and devastation that has gripped their lives. It has been called floods of Biblical proportions. I can hear the wind picking up and threatening more rain as I write this.

Rain of Biblical Proportions and God’s Displeasure
Religious books are full of stories that tell us what happens to insignificant man should he step out of line and incur god’s displeasure, or even just the earth’s. Have we brought this in some way on our own shoulders? I have watched the weather patterns seemingly change over the years. Now I am no expert on these thing and the experts themselves seem not to be entirely in agreement. Some say global warming and some say not.

The Debate Goes on
The debate goes on with not real conclusion amongst any of us. May be we all have too much of a vested interest in keeping things as they are so we ignore the signs of erosion of the earth’s balance. We all talk in terms of our newest gadget or fashion item or what we simply must own next. At what cost to us all perhaps? We also talk about the endangered species of the earth due to our own expansion and greed. Maybe what we should all be worrying about is another species. Not the tiger or the elephant, although I fully support them both and their miserable plight. Maybe there is a more important cause to worry about, an animal that needs our help more. Ourselves! Perhaps we too are an endangered species. Not by numbers but by our own stupidity and actions.

Chiropractic therapy works with the alignment of the bones which can become misaligned simply through the process of living. If these misalignments are left untreated they can lead to muscle imbalance, poor posture, pain and the stagnation or pooling of energy in muscles throughout the body.

What is McTimoney Chiropractic?
I have known my McTimoney Chiropractic practitioner for many years and know him to be very sensitive to energy in the body. Dr. Steven Aronson was drawn to this line of work when he saw how effective and powerful the McTimoney method had been for a friend. Ostensibly, chiropractic therapy works with the alignment of the bones which can become misaligned simply through the process of living. If these misalignments are left untreated they can lead to muscle imbalance, poor posture, pain and the stagnation or pooling of energy in muscles throughout the body. By realigning these bones, the skeleton can support the body as it is designed to do, allowing the muscles to relax and return the body to its natural fluid, flowing state at rest and in movement. The energy in a well aligned body flows more freely which aids overall health and well-being.

The premise of McTimoney Chiropractic
This method was developed by John McTimoney in the 1970s. He recognised that pain does not always manifest at the root of the problem. The body can become progressively misaligned and it is the McTimoney Chiropractor’s role to assess where these misalignments are and trace them back to the root of the issue. The McTimoney College of Chiropractic website says “The McTimoney approach is typified by a whole body assessment and swift, light force adjustments, which makes it a comfortable treatment to receive. The subtlety of the adjustment demands great sensitivity and mechanical skill, and once mastered the technique is extremely effective.”

My McTimoney Chiropractic session
My session was performed in the calm and tranquil environment of The Therapy Room in Cambridge, UK. Beautiful pictures and lighted candles adorned the room, creating a calming and peaceful space. Though there were other therapists practising in the building at the time, there was no noise or intrusion from elsewhere. The session began with some basic questions about my medical history, issues that I would like to have addressed, as well as an explanation of how McTimoney Chiropractic works and how the session would progress. He assured me that each patient was unique and that he uses many different skills to give effective care including Reiki and Craniosacral therapy. Once I had undressed to my underwear, the session continued with a full body assessment. I was asked to sit on the edge of the treatment table and Dr. Aronson lightly ran his fingers along the length of my spine and across my hips, as well as looked at the way my body held itself as I sat and stood. He explained that by gentle touch he can feel where the bones of the spine are misaligned and that by looking at the body he can see where muscle tension lies and how that pulls the bones out of alignment throughout the body. These subtle imbalances can have a huge impact on the body’s alignment, altering the way we sit, walk, run, lie and generally move placing stress and pressure upon the body, depleting us in energy, health and well- being. Even though I am fit and healthy, there were areas in my spine and hips that were subtly misaligned, Dr. Steven Aronson said.

Each signature light adjustment of the McTimoney method (an exact positioning of the fingers or hand followed by a gentle strike or tap) was followed by a check to see whether the bones had in fact re-aligned. It was only once I left the treatment room that I felt the effects of the adjustments. As I walked away from the session, my body felt more powerful and at greater ease and this feeling grew over the next few days as I settled into my new alignment. It was a strange feeling to have so little done mechanically, and yet I felt so much better for the experience. I am used to the deep soft tissue massage of physiotherapy and the often sore and bruised feeling that can come with that. This was very different, more subtle, yet I would say more effective.

The use of other therapies to augment healing
Dr. Aronson’s skill is not just as a Chiropractor. He used tools from Craniosacral therapy and Reiki when he felt they would be beneficial and told me when he was using them, allowing my body to take whatever it needed from the session to realign, heal and empower itself. This was understood most palpably when I was given the opportunity to sit in on a session with a patient. It was offered by Dr. Aronson as a means for me to better appreciate his process for the benefit of writing this blog and agreed to by the patient concerned. When the patient entered the room I saw a woman who I can only describe as looking as though she felt hollow of energy. She looked as though all her effort was being used to hold herself together. She had come to Dr Aronson for help because she was suffering from long term debilitating migraines that she said had eased during her course of 6 treatments.

On my journey with energy, I have developed the ability to be able to feel energy in my body and in other people’s as well as in the environment around me. It is a subtle feeling that I describe as invisible flowing water- I can feel whether it flows, where it flows and the direction of flow. It requires some concentration on my part, but it feels like I am reaching out with my body and mind for it and I recognize it when I feel it. Dr. Aronson and I discussed the session with this lady afterward and he explained that he was giving her body lots of energy during the session, allowing the lady’s body the opportunity to use the energy as it needed. I could really feel that process taking place. As her session progressed, I could see improvement in her demeanor and feel the energy radiating from her more and more. She seemed so much more relaxed.

Dr. Aronson’s passion to heal and support his clients is evident and he trusts implicitly in the client’s body’s inherent knowledge for perfect health and its ability to regain balance and well being when given the chance to do so. In his own words: “I listen to what my client’s body needs and allow their body to take what is required to achieve perfect health”.

Reflection
I found my sessions with Dr Aronson invigorating. I like the idea of someone supporting and facilitating the body in nurturing and maintaining its own health. It highlights an inherent power that we all have that very often we are discouraged to tap into because we are taught to trust in the effects and benefits of pharmaceuticals and modern surgery.

Any responsible therapist would advocate medication, surgery or other forms of modern medical intervention in the desire to supply effective health care as it is recognised there are some issues that are better treated by conventional means or other therapies. Indeed, one of the points of the overall body check at the beginning of the McTimoney session was to identify potential issues that may be better addressed by a different therapist, doctor or specialist.

The session I observed with Dr Aronson’s lady client most definitely did relieve pain and discomfort for the patient. After her session, the lady and I spoke briefly about how she felt. She said that she had improved so much since she had started her series of 6 sessions (this was number 5). She said she felt far more energised compared to when she walked into the therapy room and that appeared to be the case from what I could observe. For my own session, I can say I felt stronger and at greater ease after the session. I think as an aid to maintaining optimum health, it is very effective and I would consider top-up sessions perhaps 2 or 3 times a year for my overall health and well-being.

The patient I observed clearly felt relief and that does not always happen instantly as I understand it. It can and often does takes time. The body can take time to respond as it heals itself of physical ailments that have taken many years to develop and are often borne from emotional, psychological and habitual issues.

McTimoney Chiropractic works differently to modern drug medication. It does not mask the pain to bring almost instant ease in that way. For more profound issues, many sessions may well be necessary, as was the case for the patient I observed. Sometimes, the issue becomes so severe that the desire to regain full and pain free health outweighs the financial considerations. Even so considering the expense of a Chiropractor over cheaper therapies it may be necessary to consider them over chiropractic should finance be an issue. The free therapies offered by the NHS are of course an appealing option over paying for therapy. Some health insurance companies may include McTimoney Chirpractic treatments which may alleviate financial considerations.

Consider that many people who have complementary therapies are at the end of the health line. They may have suffered for years before they seek the help of a therapist of any kind. Often they cannot be helped by the NHS for whatever reason and the NHS has given what it can and has failed to help. Under those circumstances money may not be the first consideration. The priority is a speedy return to good health and a pain free life.

I would definitely return to Dr Aronson if I needed a treatment for pain or injury. As a martial arts teacher I take injuries very seriously, not least because I do not like being in pain. There is a philosophy to complementary therapies that I am very comfortable with, namely that by treating the whole body, the therapist supports the body in reaching and maintaining full wellness without the use of drugs or surgical intervention.

NHS has made some changes to its policy towards holistic therapies and now people can be given the details of approved therapists by their GP. It would be wonderful to see the NHS embrace these treatments even more and make them available in the UK on the NHS system. Until then, it is a personal choice and life-style commitment by the individual to decide how he/ she exercise his/ her responsibility for health, including food and nutrition, healthcare and exercise.

_______________________________________________________________________Avis and Brown and Nourish the Flame within would like to thank Dr. Steven Aronson for his time during which he explained the principles of McTimoney Chiropractic and his patience at answering my endless questions during the session. I would also like to extend my thanks to him for reviewing this article and making sure there are no factual errors. Since the 2003 he has had the opportunity to help over two thousand people to effectively eliminate their pain. Using the McTimoney method he has successfully treated people of all ages including young babies, pregnant women and the elderly. You can read more about the services Dr. Steven Aronson offers at www.stevenaronson.com/